Running Men

     I wasn't able to post anything the last few days because I had to allot my time on other ventures.  As you can see here, hand sewing flags isn't the easiest thing in the world.  With 20+ hours of labor, my eyes kind of withered away and my hands developed an intermittent occurrence of carpel tunnel.  That's okay though, because the flags had a purpose--  I'll get to that in a jiffy.

     Last Saturday was a youth event activity in the Korean branch called "Running Man."  Although I'm not familiar with the actual Korean TV show, it was supposed to be based on it.  A bunch of the youth from all over SoCal came over and we just had a really good time!  Activities like these are a great way for missionaries to get to know the youth and have them participate in missionary work by simply bringing friends!

There were a bunch of activities inside this "Running Man;" this was perhaps one of the more popular ones-- the two teams with blue and orange pennies try to fit as many of their people as possible inside the frame of a camera to determine which side wins.  The kids [and the missionaries] were jumping, playing, pushing, pulling, and most importantly, having fun!







Dinner was served too-- a good time for the kids on both sides to kind of come together, set aside differences, and just mingle!  With burgers and Korean food, there's no reason for animosity!












All-in-all, the point of this youth social event was to get the kids to know that church, as full of doctrine and "grown-up words" as it has, does in fact focus on the family-- including the kids.  Yes, church can be boring sitting on the bench and listening to a guy (or a couple of people) talk for an hour, but it's times like these where the youth, whether people from church or otherwise can just relax and have fun!  Church is a place to gather together-- a social place!  Congregation.  Iglesia.  Eglise, Kirche.  Church.  These all derive off of the fact that the place to worship is a place to gather-- a place of society.


As for the flags, though, they were used to play the last game in "Running Man--" capture the flag.  Seeing how inexperienced I really was with the TV show and what exactly happened, the first couple of hours were spent kind of suffering through what the design would be.  At the end of Wednesday, I had a brief idea-- but how was I supposed to put it on fabric?


The pole holder was sewn and something resembling a flag was completed that Wednesday night-- I cannot imagine the duties of a seamstress and how hard that could possibly be.

With a pair of safety scissors, the shapes were cut out and something of a design plan could be seen.  I have never actually done something like this before, but I suppose with prayer and diligence that a feat could be done.

 After much sewing on Thursday and Friday, the flags kind of resembled flags.  At this point in time, it has already been around 15-ish hours working.  My hands were sore, my head was aching, and my eyes were very worn out.  Two of the three flags were made and I was more than thankful for the progress that I've made.








The final outcome, working all night and all day until Saturday resulted in such an unforgettable activity.  For the youth and for the members of the church, the effort that it took to make these only made me a stronger individual (albeit a very tired individual).  From this activity and even from "Running Man," there can be a lesson to be learned.  God can give us strength to do whatever we may be demanded of-- conditionally.  In the Book of Mormon, the book of Ether, there's a verse in the twelfth chapter that reads like this:

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men to humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them" (Ether 12:27).

A prophet, WAY before the people in the Book of Mormon, was told of this by God in order for him to have enough faith to see Christ.  A miraculous anomaly, like him, if we have faith and ask God for strength, we too may be able to move mountains, perform miracles, and do the things that we suck the most at.



Aside from it all, the flags' symbolism carries a rather interesting connotation; even the one with the reverse-sided eighth note.  That's up to you to figure out;)